James' been

[Bradley A. Esparza]

Er, datapoint....

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 8:05 PM, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca>
wrote:

> Just spotted on Facebook, in generated text in the "Where I've been"
> application:
>
> James' been to 20% of the world.
>
> Leaving aside the geographical inaccuracy of the statement, I find it
> interesting that they've taken the 's contraction for "has" and
> applied the deletion-after-s rule to it as though it were the
> possessive -- and in a place where many would say the deletion
> wouldn't be appropriate in the possessive either, since my name is
> not a plural.
>
> Just another datum for the heap, anyway.
>
> James Harbeck.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Bradley A. Esparza

"You can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think." Dorothy
Parker, when asked to use the word 'horticulture' in a sentence.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org